Is A New Nintendo Direct Coming Soon?

The Nintendo Direct presentations quickly became Nintendo’s go-to method of making announcements and giving further details on already announced games a few years ago. Following the track record of the past, we are due for one pretty soon and some recent leaks and announcements seem to point to that possibly coming soon.

Nintendo had been following a pretty regular schedule with their Directs, typically putting one out every two months, or three at the most. However, following the surprise passing of Nintendo President Satoru Iwata last July, the videos were put on hold. After deciding how to go about them without Iwata, they put out a new one in November, followed by a Super Smash Bros. presentation in December, though that technically wasn’t a Direct.

Based on that, one would think that we are very close to a new one coming sometime in the remaining days of January or perhaps in February. The usual timing is not the only reason, but it also makes sense based on a few games that are coming soon, as well as a few recent announcements.

The next few months have quite a few Nintendo releases coming for Wii U and 3DS. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam comes out this Friday, which would make it very fitting to get a Direct sometime this week, though it might be too late of notice with no announcement. They could even show off Final Fantasy Explorers that comes out next week as well for the 3DS.

Beyond that, February is bringing us Fire Emblem Fates and the eShop release of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow on the Virtual Console, along with the recently announced special Pokemon Red & Blue New Nintendo 3DS. The new Fire Emblem Fates has been shown off plenty, but it is always good to showcase a soon to be released game.

Tying into that could be the supposed February release in Super Smash Bros. of Corrin from Fates, along with Bayonetta. If we got the Direct soon, we could get a release date announcement, or if by chance it’s in a few weeks, they could have a “available today” type of announcement. Also, with Bayonetta 2 getting a cheaper standalone release next month, a Nintendo Direct could be a great platform to talk about that.

March also has the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD within the first week, followed by Pokken Tournament, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympics (3DS version), and Hyrule Warriors Legends. Not to mention the announced amiibo of Roy and Ryu coming in March, as well as some others that could be unannounced at this time. With us still not getting any official information on how the Wolf Link amiibo works in Twilight Princess HD, using a Nintendo Direct to show us, especially if the rumors of a new dungeon being added through it are true.

The games we already knew were coming in this window are not quite it either, as we had a surprise announcement last week of Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge. This was announced in Japan with a video and website, but we know nothing else, except that it was coming within a few weeks of release. That would seem to point to the US getting is getting it pretty soon as well, so a Nintendo Direct could potentially be a way to go about doing that before it releases in Japan.

Adding in another wrench could even be the reveal of a game like Pokemon Z, as the Pokemon 20th anniversary celebration is in full swing. They have teased more announcements, and perhaps The Pokemon Company has decided to save that announcement for a Nintendo Direct, with more potentially being able to be shown during the Pokemon Super Bowl commercial that we know is coming. It seems a little early for a reveal of the NX, as that is still to come, but more details on Miitomo or other upcoming Nintendo mobile games need to be shown soon, especially if the Nintendo stocks are to grow as much as they expect this year.

While nothing has been announced, I would hedge my bets on us getting a new Nintendo Direct by at least the end of February, perhaps even before January is over. There is a good bit of upcoming games to give us more details on, as well as potentially unveiling anything new that is coming in the middle of the year, as we really don’t even have a big game that we know of set for May, which Nintendo almost always has something ready for, such as Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon the last two years. That could almost be where you could see Star Fox Zero getting pushed back to that spot, but for now I would at least bank on more footage of that whenever we do get the next Direct.

When do you think we’ll get a new Nintendo Direct and what would you like to see in it? Make sure to let us know in the comments below.